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Women’s Hair: Why Cover It?

A reader recently asked: “What is the background for women covering their heads during services? Is it optional in most US conservative and reform synagogues now?”

Head coverings for women are mentioned in the Torah in chapter 5 of Numbers, in something called the Sotah ritual. The Sotah was a woman suspected of adultery, and the ritual was a test. Part of that involved uncovering her hair, so the rabbis deduced from those verses that there was a biblical commandment for married women to cover their hair. Elsewhere in Tanach, in Song of Songs, there is the suggestion that the sight of women’s hair is erotic, from which the rabbis determined that hatless women would be distracting to a man at prayer.

The specifics of hair covering (how much cover, and when) was a matter of communal custom in ancient times, and it remains so today.

Today in Reform and Conservative synagogues women are welcome to cover their heads for prayer if they wish to do so; in some congregations, it is a requirement. Usually if there is a rule about it, it will be posted outside the sanctuary, and coverings of some sort will be available. In a Reform or Conservative shul, the kippah or yarmulke has become a common sight on men or women. These days it is not a modesty issue, but a matter of respect for the activity of prayer and the awareness of the Divine.

Personally, putting on a head covering is part of my routine for prayer and study. It’s a way of telling my body, “OK, time to get serious now!”

There is a wider variety of practice among Orthodox congregations. There, a kippah may be seen as a men’s garment, and therefore is not worn by women. The lace hats you described in your original question are a feminized version of the kippah. Women may wear a tichel (head scarf, pictured above) or a regular hat, or in some communities they may cover their own hair with a sheitel (wig.) If you visit an Orthodox synagogue for services, wear a scarf; that will usually be sufficient for guests.

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3 thoughts on “Women’s Hair: Why Cover It?”

I was taken aside once by my rabbi at the Conservative shul I attended. At that time, I had wavy auburn hair that fell past my shoulders. He took me to task for it being “a distraction,” yet I was not allowed to wear a kippah because those were “only for men” at that temple. I asked him about covering it with a scarf and he implied “that wouldn’t be enough.” I wasn’t able to afford a sheitel and it would have made me feel extremely uncomfortable, because none of the other women wore them.

It was a very BIG congregation, so I decided they could do without me. Funny how no one else ever seemed bothered by my hair, yet it was a shul in which — if another woman felt you needed to be reprimanded about something — no one in the congregation thought twice about taking you aside to educate you on what was and wasn’t proper in their opinion. 😉